Description

John Chesser, 1874; extended Robert Wilson, 1894. 2-storey with basement, multi-bay rectangular school building on sloped site. Tooled coursed ashlar sandstone with buckled quoins. Multi-gabled with stepped, scrolled and plain skews and ornamental moulded skew putts. Base, band and eaves course. Slightly advanced margins with sloped sills.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 2-storey, 4-bay: door to ground floor 3rd bay within slightly projecting moulded door surround with triangular pediment, bipartite window to right, projecting bay to left with central bipartite and window to left, single window to extreme left: moulded surround with G H initials and rose / star motifs (see Notes). To 1st floor: bipartite windows to outer bays with gablet surmounting, bipartite to advanced 2nd bay with rose / star motif surround, elaborate semi-circular decoration above with central cherub head roundel, rectangular plaque to gablehead inscribed REGENT ROAD SCHOOL, ornate pyramidal finial surmounting; single window to 3rd bay.

W ELEVATION: essentially 3 gables with 3-bay links on sloped site. Advanced central gable: 3 regularly placed bays to ground and 1st floor, slightly taller central bay to 1st floor with semi-circular moulded plaque above, blind arrowslit to gablehead. To left 2-storey, 3-bay: single windows to ground floor left and centre, enclosed stone piended porch to ground floor right with 2-leaf timber door and round carved plaque to gablehead; to 1st floor slightly taller central gabled bay with plain square plaque above, plain window to flanks. Gable to extreme left: to ground floor 2 windows to outer bays, to 1st floor slightly taller central bay with semi-circular moulded plaque above, single window to flanks. To right of advanced central gable 2-storey, 3-bay: central bipartite with single window to flanks; to 1st floor slightly taller central gabled bay with plain square plaque above, plain window to flanks. To extreme right further gable: bipartite window to both storeys with round allegorical plaque to gablehead. 3 hexagonal ventilators with matching candle snuffer roofs to apex of roof.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: 2? -storey, 6-bay with basement. 3-bay gable to right: bipartite to ground floor centre, single bay to flanks, band course, slightly higher central bay to 1st floor with single window to flanks, narrow window to gablehead. To left 3 regularly placed bays to both storey with central 1st floor window breaking into wallhead gable,

E ELEVATION: 4 linked 2-storey with basement gables: to left 3-bay gable with windows to 1st floor; to right recessed 2-storey, 2-bay gable with JUVENILE plaque to gablehead with lower paired window to ? storeys. Central gable: window and door to basement, paired windows to ground floor, 3 regularly placed bays to 1st floor with slightly taller central bay. To right two 2-storey, 2-bay links: small windows to ground floor, larger windows to 1st floor on left, reversed on right. To extreme right end gable: bipartite window to ground and 1st floor. Gablehead stack to each, except extreme right.

8 and 12-pane timber sash and case windows with shouldered outer panes in upper sashes. Piended ungraded slate roof with lead ridging, flashings and valleys. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods. Low ashlar gablehead stacks with sloped copes leading to tall hexagonal stacks with low plain cans, replacement ridge stacks to centre of S elevation on original stepped base.

INTERIOR: plain, little decoration to former classrooms, timber and stone staircases; currently in use as a technical block, although original classroom layout survives, as does the schoolyard and additional "toilet" and ancillary block to S.

BOUNDARY WALLS: S entrance: tooled coursed sandstone ashlar wall with dressed tooled piers, advanced base course with sloped arris, canted pier at SE angle with moulded gablet advancing from rectangular top copes; similar wall advancing to N and W. Higher facaded wall to SW (forming rear of outbuilding): implied pair of canted sill windows with central pier and flanking piers finished by moulded gablet copes, brass SCHOOL LETTERS box inset in right pier. General walls: coursed rubble walls to lesser elevations with squared copes, varying height due to sloping site; low coping only to flanks of SW entrance gate with railings directly adjoining. Long low stone bench supported on square corbels built into E wall of main schoolyard.

RAILINGS: plain wrought-iron railings with orb finials to S, W and N of site enclosing 2 former schoolyards. Gate to SW yard: 2-leaf of identical design, material and height as railings held between pair of wrought-iron piers with stepped rounded caps and orb finial.

OUTBUILDING: N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: coursed ashlar flat-roofed building with iron-barred door to left, 3 high horizontally placed windows to right; painted blind brick lower extension to far left with canted NE elevation. S & W ELEVATIONS: as boundary walls.

Statement of Interest

Regent Road school was commissioned by the Trustees of the Heriot's Trust in keeping with its philanthropical benefactor's wishes. George Heriot was a goldsmith and jeweller for King James VI and Queen Anne. He died in 1624 and, after providing for 2 illegitimate daughters and other relatives, left the residue of his estate to the Ministers of Edinburgh for the building and endowing of a "Hospital and Seminary for Orphans, for education, nursing and upbringing of youth." On the 11th April 1659, George Herriot's Hospital admitted its first pupils. During 19th century, the Trustees embarked on other major building schemes, most of which were designed by the Trust's architects, Alexander Black (mid 19th century) and his successor John Chesser (late 19th century). Chesser's work included three schools: Regent Road, London Road and Montrose Terrace, built 1874, extended in 1894 by Robert Wilson; St Bernard's Primary School, Dean Park Street, which was erected between 1874 and 1877 and subsequently extended by Robert Wilson in 1894; and Heriot's school, Davie Street, built 1875 and extended to the rear in 1887, presumably by Wilson too. All three schools share Scot Neo-Jacobean features including tourelles, buckle quoins, broken pediments and strapwork. The choice of style is unsurprising considering the date and design of the parent building on Lauriston Place. Another shared detail of the designs is the proliferation of stars and roses, the emblems of George Heriot, in the decoration of these buildings. The school is listed in recognition of the quality of design and detailing, and as a good example of the work of the Trust's architect, John Chesser.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17799337

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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